Renaissance (American Heritage Dictionary): 1. A rebirth; revival. 2. Renaissance. A. The humanistic revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe… 3. Any similar period of revived intellectual or artistic achievement. (from Latin renasci, to be born again)
So – Oh look. It just started snowing. A few minutes ago I was wondering if I could fit a bicycle ride in. This is a perfect analogy of what can happen to best laid plans of mice and renaissance people, those multi-talented, multi-tasking people who have a lot on their lists. You make your plans, the weather or something changes, and you need to shift gears.
But I’m getting ahead of the story. So there you are, having done your mega planning for the year. You’ve done that, haven’t you? Reviewed last year, and set goals for next year? Well, not everyone thinks this is critical, and many seat of the pants pilots do fine. But if you just haven’t had the time, and have heard that bit about “successful people do it in writing”, try doing the balanced wealth assessment – more detail below.
Then when you have some goals in mind, then you need to prioritize and schedule them into your life. Let’s say you want to create a product for your business. Of course you don’t just devote your whole work week to that for six weeks until it’s done. No, you probably have other duties to maintain, your client load, your other marketing activities, right? Never mind the chopping of the wood and carrots, and the carrying of water and babies… Oh yes, and you said you’d make more time for friends this year, right? Or exercise, or Spanish or fun …
So how do you know where to start, or how many projects to juggle, Ms. Renaissance Dudette? Well, you’ve got the left brain thoughts on it, and you’ve got the right brain suggestions. You have something you really want to complete before you can even get a good feel for the next things to devote yourself to. You can get pretty crazed, confused, obsessive about the whole thing – and then just let it go, not sure where to start. What’s an artist/healer/light worker to do?
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME, OR HEAVEN, OR …THAT COMPLETED PROJECT
All roads lead to Rome. This is a nice thought, especially if you are trying to get to Italy. When this is an analogy for self growth, completed projects, and the like, even more comforting. Let’s say you are looking at increasing your wealth, your money peace, for example – as many of you are. How do all roads lead to Rome in that case?
Well, dear reader, let’s take a trip back to the Four Keys to Healthy Wealth, the gift you received when you signed up for this eZine. Remember key 3? This was the step about achieving inner and outer wealth balance. In this step, you rate yourself on your inner wealth, which is the non-monetary side of a wealthy life. Relationships, fulfilling work, fun and all that. Then you rate yourself on the outer wealth side of things – paying bills, saving funds, balancing the checkbook and that side of the wealth equation.
Here is key 3’s essence, The Balanced Wealth (BW) Assessment. It takes five minutes or less. Let’s say you did this in the past, and found that your inner wealth was strong, but the outer wealth was not so strong. You decide to work on the outer wealth side for a while. You work at balancing the checkbook, living within your means, budgeting better and creating an emergency fund, etc. The BW assessment does its job when it highlights areas that are being neglected, or are the next edge of your learning curve, the next area that is asking for attention.
Then when you repeat the assessment at a later date, you find Ah, look at this. My outer wealth is now 38% better than it was last year. In fact, my outer wealth is looking quite a bit better than my inner wealth right now. Imagine that. And now, the area you prefer to work in – before money work became more enjoyable that is – the inner wealth area – well, now that needs a little attention.
So in this particular case, working on inner or outer wealth – all roads DO lead to a better wealth. That wealth, inside and out, idea. Now that doesn’t mean that if you inner wealth is really strong, and the outer wealth side not so much, that you can ignore the outer wealth and keep your focus on the inner wealth, your preferred area of expertise. When wealth is out of balance as in that case, you need to ask, what is calling for attention? What needs some help to create more balance in the big picture?
So yes all road lead to Rome eventually – but some choices will get you there faster. And then, there is the question of – how do you create your schedule, and plan your work in a way that these things you want to create, actually happen? Ah, well that is another amazing feat for the creative human who perhaps would rather be playing a guitar, painting or writing poetry… never mind that the hammock is looking pretty good too.
SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE PLANNING OF YOUR NEXT MASTERPIECE
So you have done whatever planning process or assessments and you’ve nailed down a few BHAGs as Jack Canfield calls them, Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Or maybe just a small project or two you’d really like to see completed this year, or see some big progress on at year’s end. Now what are the secrets to choosing the road signs that will get you there?
Making lists alone doesn’t do the job, as you know. You need to break those projects into small steps, and then put those little bubbies into your schedule. Currently I am trying out Robert Middleton’s planning system explained here . He suggests creating a plan for the next 8 weeks of work, from which you would make 8 weekly lists, from which you’d chose your daily tasks. The keys to making this work are making the first two month plan, and then revisiting it every week to see how you did. Likely, you’ll need to reorganize and revise the following week’s plan.
If you’re like most people new to this level of detail with planning, you will seriously underestimate the time it takes to do certain tasks. So it’s vital to revisit and rewrite your plan weekly, and reschedule your week with the next most important tasks. RM says it’s important to use this daily for a month, to get into the routine and start to see the benefits.
AND DON’T FORGET THAT RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN
So life is not all left brain, as we know, and the best laid plans for a bike ride get snowed under. (Yep, it’s sticking to those streets outside the window – perhaps a walk in the snow instead). So before you set out on your journey to the Masterpiece of 2011 – make sure to run this all by your intuitive side – the heart, the spirit side of the equation.
The intuitive side is often already functioning for many of you. For example, when you do the balanced wealth assessment, you choose three areas of each side, inner and outer wealth, to focus on next. If I asked you what’s first, and you answer fast, you’ll likely be giving an intuitive answer. These are often right on, and feel right – you can trust those type of impulses.
You can also make your plans with your logical half, and then run them by your more intuitive side. This can be done with any meditation process. Get centered, connect with your spiritual side, and put your plans in front of your heart or spirit center. Is the first response a yes or no, a reaching toward the plan, or a backing away from it? Or as life coach Martha Beck suggests, imagine yourself taking that step or action. Feel it in your body. Does it make you expand or contract? Guess which one gets your right side of the brain’s endorsement…
It’s pretty simple to get the intuitive input – the hardest part may be slowing down to enter the silence and connect to the wisdom within. But once you are there, you can have a regular staff meeting with all your inner light big whigs, and get it all figured out. So let those dual sides have their say, and get your masterpiece mapped out. At least for the next 8 weeks, ey?
GRATITUDE, STRETCHING, DOING MORE OF WHAT YOU LOVE – THE TIME IS NOW
And then, once you’ve set the plan out, you’ve hopefully picked the most important things to start with. One standard way to prioritize goals is grouping them into categories of A, B, C say, and then take all the A’s and number then – 1 is most important, to the end. Then do the same with the B’s. So this way you know the A1 goal for this year.
How many goals do you juggle at once? I’ve heard that 3 big ones is a good amount to start with. As those are completed, you pull up the goals behind them. This way you stay focused on what’s most important. When you have the next great idea in the midst of your writing time – put it in the file you create for Ideas, or for Next Great Projects, etc.
Gay and Katie Hendricks, the Conscious Living/Loving couple, talked on their ezine of the idea of time dissolving or standing still, when you are fully engaged, and doing what you love. They suggest doing more of what you love – getting that into the schedule however you can, whatever amount you can. They also recommend taking body breaks – they make up new ways of stretching to share with each other.
However you slice it, 2011 is here. And the message I keep overhearing from various sources is – the time is now. So if you have a clue what to do to shine more of your light, take that step. If you are not sure, take a step and see if that leads to another.
There is so much help available renaissance friend – but you do have to ask. Those angels are tapping their wingnails waiting for ya. Okay, I don’t think their wings have nails, but you catch my drift. Don’t be the cause of the yawning angel syndrome in your sector. If you don’t keep them busy, they just might have to start building bars or creating other seamy, desperate attempts at entertainment. It’s not pretty, and it’s hell to recover from. So make your request, and make it loud …
Snow-speckled blessings on your coming masterpiece,
Denise Barnes